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Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Sharing a Favorite Read Aloud

I wish
you could all live in my head, because there are just so many posts waiting to be written. And waiting, and
waiting. I think about those stories – and my laptop – with longing as I rush
to school and home, to football practices and home. The beginning of a school
year is a time of constant lamenting that I simply have no time. In just a few
weeks I know life will seem calmer. Until then, it’s those seeds I wrote of last
week that keep me sane.

Today’s seed came in the form of a read aloud. There are books I enjoy sharing
with my students and then there are books I look forward to with great
anticipation. Jon Klassen’s I Want My Hat Back is one of those books.
Today I read it to my students. I had planned on reading it tomorrow – and will
to my other two reading classes – but today it was for my class. They came back
from PE at 1:50, sweaty and tired. The heat index was at, or over, 100 degrees.
My building is ancient and air conditioning is the stuff dreams are made of.
God bless the folks who built it back in 1894, they did a heck of a job, and
those bricks can really keep the heat in. A
fact I lamented all day long.

Like I
was saying, it was hot. My students were tired and, if the truth be told, a bit
cranky. If we’re being perfectly candid here, so was I. There is only so long
that you can put up with sweat rolling down your back before you snap. With
twenty minutes left until our early dismissal due to heat and in pure
desperation, I pulled out this book and quickly placed it under the document
camera. I shared the backstory, told of my friends on Twitter, talked about
Klassen’s Caldecott win, and we began.

The kids laughed, I laughed. We moved through the pages with glee. They sucked
on popsicles as they pointed out the hat that was on the rabbit at the
beginning. We discussed the fact that bear, while polite at times, isn’t the
brightest of animals. And then, we formed teams.

Who would say bear was a bit aggressive? That rabbit was unjustly gobbled up?
My lone #teamrabbit member has a kind heart. Love this kiddo.

The
majority of our group felt that rabbit, I’m sorry to say, had it coming. And a
bear has to do what a bear has to do. Say hello to #teambear.

Finally,
I saw a few kiddos sitting to the side. Which team would they be representing?
They didn’t want to be any part of this act of violence. Here are #teamturtle
and #teamsquirrel.

This book
brightened up the end of our day and gave me a memory that is filed away into
one of those moments of a school year I know I won’t forget. Those other posts
will come in time, but this seed demanded to be shared.